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Patented Nov. Z7, 1923.

UNITED STATES PJCHARD H. T-ONTON, QE RTLAND, REGON.

STREAM Application filed November 23,

To all whom t may concern v Beit known that l, RICHARD THGRN? ron, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Portland, county of Multnomah, and. State of Oregon, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Stream lmproveinent, of which the following i's a speci-v ication.

As well known, if the natural channel of ay river is narrowed by an abutment placed in one side thereof the i'iowing waters will secure the necessary cross'sectional area by increasing` the depth until the area lost by the decreased width is regained by the increased depth and equilibrium is-again restored. lt is also well lnown that the waters Flowing overv the shallow part of a stream are subjected to much greater friction by the river bottom than the deeper parts, and therefore will flow with diminished velocity.

J. L. Van Ornum in his book entitled The Regulations of River (Washington University 1914) states: v

lf in one part of (a river) the velocity of the stream is great enough to scour the bed,

andthe water becomes loaded with silt, and in (another) part of .the rivers course the velocity is diminished, then part of the transported material must be deposited. Probably deposit and scour go on simultaneously over the whole river bed; but in some parts the rate of scour is in excess of thc rate of deposit, and in other parts theY rate of deposit is in excess of the rate of scour. f

rEhe object' of my invention is to direct vtllesc physical propertiesV of nature so as to 'canse scour; in one part, and deposit in another Ypart of the strea a. My further object is to produce such result atta low cost.

l attain my object hy building near one shore of the stream a wall or abutment in- .ed at an angle up stream, with one end piojecting into onD side'of the channel, and the other end extending to a convenient point in the shallow waters.

rlhe flow diverted towards the shallow vportion of the stream must notV be arrested entirely, as it would be by a jetty and thus a region of back water would be created; but must be permitted to proceed on its course. A

Furthermore, the wall is so designed as to divide that portion of the current which impacts against it, diverting such portion Serial No. 602,786.

partly bach into the channel, and partly into theshallow waters along the same side of the shore. ln this way, since the waters flo ,fing over the shallow part of the stream :donfY said shore are subjected to a much rter friction by the bottom of the stream than the deeper parts, the waters of the current, in following the line of least resistance, will tend to pass for the greater part in front of the wall back into the channel and thus scour the bed; while, at the same time a portion of the silt carried in suspension by the waters passing over said shallow portion will-bc deposited and after a time form a ysolid embankment.

ln order to promote said result that end of my wall projecting into the channel is curved baci; npon itself in the form of a hook presenting a curved surface for a two fold purpose: first, to provide a space en closed by said wall, in which silt may be collected and by so doing causing an islandlilfe formation adding' to the solidity of the n structure, which besides may bc used all or other purposes; secondly, the curved back wall tends to produce a swirl around 'd lio l l t till s* 'fl l d an ,tot ancL to in an enc ose space by d posits.

t eher features of my invention and the mode of practicing the same are hereinafter fully described and diagrammatically illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

'fig. l shows a plan of a river with my means for utilizing the current of the chan-L nel to scc-ur ont the latter, diagrammatically shown; and

2 shows a modiiication which may be made in the construction of the wall, e, g, h shownin Fig. l.

T carry my invention into practice as fol- 's: First, I plat a straight line a, l), from point a, approximately transversely to the course of the main channel of the river opposite to that point. Next l plat astraight line c, (L, CZ, at or near the shore, and at right angles to the line a, Then l bisect the right angle, a, I), d, which is assumed to face upstream; the flow of the river being indicated by the arrows. then build a wall along the said bisecting line, which in the drawings is indicated by the broken line f. Said wall may deviate a few degrees on either side of said bisecting line, with the angle measured from a as a center. The angle at which the wall so built may deviate from said line of bisection is to be deternilncd by the engineer in charge of the work, according to the contour and velocity of the current. This wall should begin at a point ein said line ofbisection /*','said pointe being located in the shallow water along the adja-4 cent or left banlr, and not very far from the edge of the current. The wall is projected into one side of the channel of the river, and at'the extremity of such projection it is cin-ved inward, or in other words the projecting wall portion is bent back on itself, towards the bank on the same side of the river. The construction of this wall is diagramlnatically represented in the drawing by the heavy line c, g, it. The form of said curve may be semicircular or elliptical, but the wall portion included in the long` arm section c, g, must be substantially longer than the portion g, t-

The theory of the. effect produced by my wall may be said to be as follows with reference to the drawings: i Since the wall portion at g projects into the channel of the river, the waters of the channel. striking aga-inst the wall portion g, it, will tend to deflect towards the left bank, and thus produce a side current or swirl which would tend to carry the silt and otherI mattei' suspended in these waters alongthe wall portion g, 7L, and the latter will tend to cause the deposit of suoli matter in the shallow water along said bank. The swirl occasioned around the point L of the wall portion g, it, would further tend to till the space enclosed by the wall c, g, 7L, with deposits from said material, and in that way strengthen this wall by forming a solid abutment. The passage of the water as diverted, however, is not restrained, but is permitted to flow on alongthe left bank of the river, and thru the opening left be weeu the point c constituting the near end of said y wall7 and the point a on the adjacent shore; for if the opening between e and a were closed a back water would result which would frustrate the purpose and function of the wall c, g, L. Y

In order to promote the arresting and delection of the silt and other material suspended in the water of the channel as mentioned, the wall portion e, g, may be provided with an angular projection or beak 'L'. This need not be of a permanent character7 for in my opinion, if it lasts until the space enclosed by the wall e, g, 7L is filled up to a reasonable extent` said extension will have seilved its purpose.

The diversion of part of the material carried in suspension by the current will prevent its deposit in the channel, and thus Hence by means of said wall the current in the river will be utilized to gradually scour out its own channel for a considerable distancei The construction of the wall must be Vplanned so that said scouring action will not'V tend to changeA the 'channel of the river, unless that result be desired'. V

The material of which vthe wall e, g, L, is built must depend upon the circumstances. For example it may be made of piling or it may be built in any other way nowv practiced in similar wall construction.

The particular utility of applicants invention lies in the low cost of the improvement of the river. The only material which will have to be brought in from an outside source is that which goes into the construe-- tion of the wall. lVhe-n this has been built an island will be formed by the deposits within the hook, and the island will reinforce the wall and greatly strengthen it; also the silt deposited in the shallow water supplements the land along the shore. In this way dylres or levees may be formed along a bank, or an island or islands formed in the stream, which may be connected or otherwise caused to subserve the necessities or conveniences oflife; for instance facilitate the construction of a boom for confining logs. y Y

I claim:

Means for directing the current of a stream so as to make land-forming deposits Y of its silt, said means consisting of a Vwall built at an acute angle up stream from a point located in the shallow waters olf one shore to a point located in the same side of the channel of the river, suoli wall composed of a long straight arm terminating at that end projecting into the channel in a short arm curved back upon itself.

RICHARD I-I. THORNTON. 

